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Buxton, Sano form dynamic duo for Twins

Buxton, Sano form dynamic duo for Twins

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By Jonathan Mayo
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MLB.com |

Seeing Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano generate the most excitement in a recent poll by MLB.com should excite Twins fans, especially because both earned in-season promotions in 2013 and are headed somewhat speedily toward Target Field. The Twins' system is flush with talent, well beyond these two young hitters, but it is hard not to stand in awe of what Buxton and Sano might accomplish.

Sano and Buxton are a level apart, with Buxton recently getting promoted to Fort Myers, the club Sano left behind for Double-A not that long ago. But they have been teammates before, albeit briefly. Sano and Buxton were in the same lineup for a week at instructs last fall. The results should come as no surprise to anyone.

"I think we went 6-1 that week," Buxton said with a smile. "The next week, we were split up. I think we went 3-3 then."

It is hard to think of a time in recent memory when one organization had two such highly-regarded prospects at the same time. The D-backs did have top-10 prospects in Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer a year ago. Oscar Taveras and Shelby Miller created a nice 1-2 punch for a time as well, but with all due respect to those pairings, none comes close to the Buxton-Sano combo in terms of upside potential.

And if fans, let alone the Twins' front office, are excited about seeing that play in the Twin Cities, Buxton is right there with them.

"It'll be pretty cool," Buxton said. "He's a great player to watch. It should be really interesting."